Volleyball

"Volleyball." 1 The Gale Group, Inc.. 2 Dec. 2008 []. __Direct Quotes:__ -Invented in 1895, volleyball has grown from its roots as a non-contact recreational exercise to its current status as one of the world's most popular sports. -It is a remarkable irony of sports history that volleyball's inventor, a Massachusetts Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) instructor, William G. Morgan (1870–1942), developed this sport in same American town where James Naismith had created basketball four years earlier. -The first variant of volleyball, beach volleyball, was first played and developed in California after 1930. -The international growth of volleyball was impeded only by World War II, and in 1946 the international federation governing the sport, Federation Internationale de Volley-Ball (FIVB), was chartered. -FIVB sanctioned the inaugural world volleyball championships in 1949, and the sport was included for the first time as both a men's and women's sport in the 1964 Olympics. -The first professional volleyball league was formed in 1983, and other professional leagues were established in a number of other nations in the succeeding years. -Beach volleyball developed its own following, which resulted in both a first FIVB world beach championship in 1987, followed by the inclusion of beach volleyball as an Olympic sport in 1996. Volleyball in both forms is played in every country of the world. -The rules of volleyball are relatively simple; it is the precision with which a team can execute within this uncomplicated rules framework that defines success in the sport. -Games are scored by the first team to reach 25 points, and a match usually will consist of a best-of-five-games format. When a fifth game is necessary to decide the match that game will be played to 15 points. -Height is an important, but not determinative, physical attribute in volleyball. While tall players typically will dominate in the play at the net, smaller and more agile players are essential in covering open areas of the court, to both keep the ball in play after an opponent's attack, and to coordinate the offensive attack by putting the ball into play as a part of a set offensive sequence. -The setter is such a player, the team member responsible for putting the ball into a position where it can be delivered with an authoritative spike into the opponent's court. -In elite international volleyball, it is not uncommon to have male players at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) or taller playing in the frontcourt, and on women's teams, 6 ft 2 in or taller (1.87 m). -The net is positioned midway on a court that is 59.6 ft long, and 29.6 ft wide (18 m by 9 m). The net is 7.95 ft high for men's play, and 7.4 ft high for women (2.43 m and 2.24 m, respectively). -The ball used for all players is constructed from synthetic materials, with a circumference of between 25.5 in and 27 in (65 and 67 cm), and a weight of between 9 oz and 10 oz (260 g and 280 g). -Each court has an attack line placed 9.9 ft (3 m) behind the net; this is the boundary that determines the frontcourt from the back-court. -The attack line also assists in defining the role of a specialist known as the "libero." The libero is a player who can be substituted for any player in a team's backcourt. The libero is not permitted to serve the ball nor may the libero spike the ball or rotate into the frontcourt. -The libero was a position invented in the mid 1990s to create an additional role for the shorter volleyball player. - A hard serve will often be delivered as a jump serve, where the power of the jump is converted into arm speed and consequently a greater force is imparted to the ball. -A hard-spinning serve is a difficult ball to handle for an opposing team. A float serve is designed to achieve the opposite effect from a spike serve. The float serve is delivered with little or no spin, making its path through the air unpredictable. -The outdoor court is slightly smaller than that used indoors: 52.5 ft by 26.2 ft (16 m by 8 m). -Volleyball success requires that the player possess an optimum range of motion, to permit the greatest degree of lift in the leaping required, as well as to enhance the cushioning of the forces repeatedly directed into the body through jumps and landing. -One appeal of volleyball, beyond the nature of the game itself, is that it is a sport that can be played by any body type at any age. It can also be played safely and without significant rule changes by men and women, mixed, or co-ed settings.